Entek has signed an agreement with Brückner Group USA to add 18 lithium-ion battery separator film production lines at its facility. Headquartered in Lebanon, OR, Entek is the only US-owned and US-based producer of “wet-process" lithium-ion-battery separator materials. Brückner Group USA, based in Dover, NH, sells, services, and supports the plastics and fiber machinery of Germany-based Brückner Group GmbH in North America.

This agreement is in addition to a project announced earlier that will expand separator production by approximately 1.4 billion square meters annually by 2027. The project received a $200 million grant from the US Department of Energy through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which allocated $2.8 billion to support the domestic production of electric vehicle batteries and energy storage systems.

The global lithium-ion battery market was valued at $41.97 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 18.1% through 2030, according to a business report distributed by Grand View Research. The adoption of electric vehicles worldwide will drive demand for lithium-ion batteries.

“We will create American jobs producing lithium battery components, using the most advanced technologies and meeting the cleanest environmental standards in the world,” said Entek Chief Technology Officer Rick Pekala in a prepared statement. “Brückner’s newest generation biaxial stretching film equipment together with Entek’s material science, coating, recycling, and separator production expertise fulfills this mission.”

Entek also develops and manufactures extrusion and material handling systems. Last month, it announced the develpment of its largest twin-screw extruder to date and that it was nearing completion of the phase one build-out of a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Henderson, NV.